Metro: No more negative SmarTrip balances allowed

As of Monday Metro is no longer allowing negative balances on SmarTrip cards. This new rule impacts anybody who uses a SmarTrip card for the Metrorail or on the Metrobus.

Author:
Arielle Buchmann

Published:
6:34 AM EST January 8, 2018

As of Monday Metro is no longer allowing negative balances on SmarTrip cards. This new rule impacts anybody who uses a SmarTrip card for the Metrorail or on the Metrobus.

Metro riders who don't have enough money stored on the card will have to add money at an exit fare machine. Those exit fare machines only accept cash.

Bus passengers with a negative balance will need to pay the difference on board.

Metro is encouraging customers to sign up for the auto reload through their SmarTrip account to make sure they always have funds on their card. The auto reload will then automatically add value whenever the card's balance goes below $10.